Everything
by forevermissingclaudiaZ
Summary: "My baby really is bringing out the best in you." "What can I say, sis? When the chips are down all we have is each other."


Sonny is sitting in his office with Morgan when he gets the call from Shawn.

"Shawn, what's up?"

"_My contact at the hospital just called and well you see… Ava's been admitted to the hospital."_

Morgan watches as his father's eyes grow wide.

"Is it the baby?"

Morgan pays more attention when he realizes that they're talking about Ava, about his baby, his son or daughter- he winces- or his brother or sister. He tries not to think about it, after his chat with Kiki the other day he realized that she was right, no matter what, this baby was a part of his family.

"_She's in premature labor and it's not good, Sonny. Jordan was with her and our other contacts are telling me that Julian is coming home early from his trip for her. What do you want me to do? She's got twelve guards in front of her door there's no way to extract her."_

"No, don't do anything, we'll have to see how it plays out…"

Sonny pauses as he watches Morgan stand up and grab his jacket from the chair.

"It's Ava, right? Something's wrong with the baby and her? I'm going to the hospital with or without you."

Sonny stands, phone still attached to his ear. He doesn't want to go to the hospital, but he doesn't want Morgan driving in his current mental state. He knows that Morgan hasn't seen Ava since he came to the house demanding Ava to leave with him. He can only imagine how his son feels right now.

"Hold on, son, I'll drive you. Shawn, meet me at the hospital."

* * *

><p>"God, this hurts so much. Where is Dr. Westbourne?"<p>

Ava's voice is but a whimper against the noises of the many machines attached to her. Jordan stands close by the bed, unsure how to comfort the woman, and hoping that Julian shows up soon. The other doctor that was at the hospital had admitted her for early pre-term labor, but he wasn't sure what was causing it and that is why Dr. Westbourne had been called in on her day off.

"It's gonna be okay Ava, I'm sure Dr. Westbourne will be here soon with the results. Can I call anyone for you?"

After a contraction passes, Ava wants to tell her to call Morgan, because even though he may not be the father she can only think of his name, can only think of having him here with her. Kiki briefly crosses her mind, but her first born has never been good in a crisis. She literally has no one. No, that's wrong she has Julian, she has her big brother.

"Julian, I want my brother, Jordan."

"Ava, he's on his way, but he's in the city, I don't know how long it's going to-"

"I'm right here, sis."

Julian runs to her side and grabs her hand, pushing some hair from her face. His eyes briefly shift to the fetal monitor where his niece or nephew's heartbeat is going strong, he thinks. He's never had to read one of these things before, all of his family has been instant- he never had to worry about a child in utero until his little sister had wound up pregnant. He never realized how much love he could feel inside of him for this little person that he had never met, but he did.

He makes eye contact with Jordan and she assumes he's going to tell her to leave or make some sort of smart ass remark.

"Call in enough guards?"

She smirks, he went for the smart ass remark.

"I just called them all in, I didn't want any surprises."

"No, you did good, thank you for taking care of my sister and for getting her here safely. So you and my niece or nephew missed me so much that you decided to go for dramatics to get me back into town, huh?"

"Julian."

She starts to cry, she's so happy to see him. It should be laughable that six months ago he was trying to kill her and now he was standing by her, holding her hand, while she wondered if her baby was going to make it. But she had learned to need him, learned to lean on him, family had become important to him-she had become important to him. She was so happy he was here.

"It's okay, you and the baby are going to be just fine. I'm here, I'm pretty sure Dr. Westbourne was going to get your test results when I was walking here. This baby is going to be fine, Ava. He or she is your child and if I've learned anything it's that you are strong and resilient and this baby is going to get those traits from you."

"Julian, I'm scared, losing this baby-"

"No, shhh, don't even talk about that, don't even think about it."

She didn't want to say it but it was all she had been thinking about since she had been admitted to the hospital. Babies born this early had a very small chance of making it and that alone terrified her. This baby was her second chance, she had failed Kiki as a mother from the second she was born practically and she wasn't going to fail this baby.

But this baby was so much more than just a second chance, she loved him or her with all her heart. At first being pregnant had been nothing but a way to stay alive, but that changed. When her waistband started expanding and the baby started moving, everything changed. She fell in love with this little life growing inside of her and she couldn't live her life without this baby, she didn't want to live without this child.

"What if Sonny-"

"Nope, Sonny is not going to get anywhere near you. There are twelve guards standing outside your door, blocking everyone, including me may I add, trying to get to you. You and this baby are safe. How's the pain?"

"The contractions aren't coming as frequently, but I still feel them, I had one like a minute ago. The baby isn't ready yet and this situation is so messed up, if I were him or her I would never want to come out."

He pulls a chair by her bed and flops down in it. She gently turns her body to face him more, one hand pressing against the bottom of her abdomen, feeling what she can of her child. Julian softly rests his hand on her stomach. They don't communicate except through eye contact, but it's enough. He tenses when he feels her have a contraction. He wants to know where Dr. Westbourne with the tests results now. As he goes to get up, Dr. Westbourne walks in with an ultrasound trailing behind her.

"How are we feeling?"

She looks at Ava and Julian for a second before holding up a long roll of paper with various lines going up and down. Julian assumes it's either a record of the baby's heartbeat or of Ava's contractions; he's not sure which.

"Okay, I guess the contractions have seemed to slow down, have they?"

Britt smiles at her.

"Sort of, we're going to do an ultrasound real quick to make sure the baby is okay and also to corroborate with the test results."

Ava turns so that she is on her back and allows Britt to put the gel on her abdomen. Julian searches for his sister's hand and grabs on tight to it, just so that she knows he's here for her. Her eyes shift to him momentarily before the room is filled with a quick heartbeat and Ava's child is displayed on the screen. Ava holds her breath as she waits for Dr. Westbourne to speak again.

"She looks good, great actually."

"She…?"

Julian is the one who asks, because Ava looks so surprised and neither of them knew she was having a baby girl.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry, I forgot you didn't want to know, it's so easy to just address the child as-"

Ava smiles.

"It's okay, Dr. Westbourne, truly. Just tell me if my baby girl is going to be okay."

She had believed the baby she was carrying was a girl from the very beginning, call it mother's intuition or the fact that her pregnancy with Kiki had been exactly the same as the current one, but she just knew. Just like she knew that Morgan was the father, she hoped and prayed he was this child's father, she did not want Sonny to raise this child if he managed to kill her.

"Well, she looks great, it's your health that I'm concerned about. When you were admitted your blood pressure was extremely high and it's gone down some but it's not where we'd like it to be. We're going to keep giving you the magnesium sulfate to try and stop the labor, but you can't stress for the rest of this pregnancy or else I will keep you here. Stress raises your blood pressure, which in turn can start labor. I know this entire pregnancy and situation surrounding this baby has been extremely stressful for you, but you just have to not think about it for now, okay?"

Ava nods.

"Now, right now we have a monitor on you to keep track of your blood pressure, if it gets too high again it will beep pretty loudly and quickly until a nurse or I get in here- please don't make me run to your room. Just stay calm and try to sleep or something. I'll be in to check on you a little bit later."

"Thank you Dr. Westbourne."

When she's gone Julian smiles at his sister, resting his palm over his niece and just trying to send her his strength to get through this. He hated Ava at the beginning, she was just a cover, she was just there to help him take down the enemy, but now he couldn't imagine seeing his sister hurting like this, hurting over the loss of a child she hasn't even met yet.

"Julian, I can't lose her."

"You're not-"

Before he can truly speak to calm her fears, the hospital door bursts open revealing Morgan Corinthos.

"Ava!"

The guards pull him back, putting their bodies in between him and the door to her hospital room. Even with the closing of the ranks, she still manages to see Sonny's face and watch as his lips curl into a Cheshire grin, the dimples that every other woman finds so attractive being what strikes the most fear within her. The monitor Dr. Westbourne had warned them about starts to go off and it is loud- louder than either of the Jerome siblings had expected.

"Ava, it's okay, you're-"

"Julian, Sonny is out there, he's out there and he's going to grab me and lock me away somewhere until I have this child and he's going to kill me."

"No, shh, shh, I won't let that happen. I need you to calm down though, just breathe."

She takes some deep breaths, inhales and exhales, trying to calm her shaking body. Britt rushes in on the third cycle of this breathing technique when the monitor has finally stopped with its incessant chirping and the room has seemed to calm down, Ava has calmed down too.

"Alright, good, you're calm again. Now, let's not do this again, because it was no fun for me and I know it was no fun for you. Sleep, okay?"

Both siblings nod as Dr. Westbourne exits the room, but does not close the door behind her. Morgan is still attempting to fight through the guards to get to his once lover, while Sonny stands and watches- he won't be going in there, Ava barely saw his face and an alarm sounded. Julian watches as Morgan struggles and looks at his sister.

"Ava, I just wanna talk!"

"Do you want me to let him in? No stress, though."

She nods, knowing that Morgan won't stop until he gets what he wants.

"No stress."

Julian kisses the top of his sister's head before vacating his chair and going to the door. He whispers to the guards to let Morgan in, then looks back at her once before disappearing in the group. Morgan smiles at her when he finally gets in the room and slowly makes his way toward her. He sits in the chair beside her bed, but is careful to not reach for her hand, even though he wants to.

"The baby okay? Are you okay?"

His tone is quiet and she wonders if he thinks she'll stay calmer this way. It's the first conversation they've had in months and one where he isn't yelling at her or telling her to do something

"She's okay, I'm getting there. My blood pressure was really high and it put me into premature labor, they're giving me medicine in hopes of stopping the contractions."

"She…?"

Ava smiles at him.

"Umm, yeah. Dr. Westbourne did an ultrasound and she accidentally let it slip that the baby is a girl, so yeah, I'm going to have another daughter."

"I'm going to have a daughter, too, maybe."

They both wince at the uncomfortableness of the situation at hand. Their relationship had rough parts to it, there were literally mines just waiting to be stepped on to explode. He had to tread carefully.

"Sorry."

"It's not your fault, Morgan, it's all mine."

* * *

><p>He's talking to one of the guards outside of his sister's room when Shawn Butler walks by while making his way to Sonny. Julian eyes them carefully, not liking that they can be this close to Ava and him do nothing about it. They look like they're planning something and he just doesn't like it one bit. He makes eye contact with the guard he was speaking to.<p>

"Keep the men on high alert. I don't trust Sonny Corinthos to not make a power play for Ava while she's lying helpless in a hospital bed."

The man nods as Julian walks over to his competition, more like enemy.

"You don't need to be here, Sonny. Just seeing you made Ava's blood pressure skyrocket."

"I have every right to be here, that could very well be my child that's in danger and I want to be here for him or her."

Julian lets out a hardy laugh, knowing that what Sonny is saying is nothing but bullshit. If the baby doesn't make it, he won't grieve, and the first thing he'll do is storm the room in order to grab Ava and murder her.

"You know what, Sonny? Either way it is your flesh and blood and that baby means something to you, just like it means something to me. Ava is in an extremely delicate position right now. She went into labor because her blood pressure was too high due to stress- stress you've put her under. Dr. Westbourne is monitoring her closely, but if she's exposed to stress for too long she'll go into full blown labor and this baby is no where near ready to be born. Do you want this child's death on your conscious?"

Sonny lets out a deep sigh and lets minutes pass before responding.

"Fine, we'll go. Tell my son I'll be at the office if he needs me."

* * *

><p>"My dad said you witnessed something and that's why he was forcing you to live with him, so he could keep you under his thumb and watch you. That's why you have so many guards outside your door right? You're afraid he's going to try and grab you back."<p>

She takes a deep breath, trying not to get stressed again. She knows Morgan needs to talk about this, he needs to understand this odd family dynamic he has been thrown into. She wishes she had never slept with Sonny, because then this baby would be his for sure and she might be a little bit safer if Morgan was on her side.

"I'm afraid he'll throw me into a panic room or a safe house or somewhere that Julian can't find me and he'll take this little girl from me and I'll never see her again. I love this child so much, Morgan, and if that means layers of guards standing outside my hospital room door so that no one can take her from me than that's what it takes."

He nods, slightly taken aback the panic room comment. He had never told Ava about the fact that his mother was locked in a panic room for part of her pregnancy with him. He was never told the full story, no one ever liked to talk about it, even Michael. He didn't think his dad would ever do something like that to Ava after going through it, but he didn't really know what his father was capable of anymore.

"So Kiki tells me you have a…a Rosalie?"

Morgan laughs, mostly in frustration, he could hear how difficult it was for her to even say it.

"Remind me to strangle your daughter when I see her."

"It's okay, I never expected you to want me again-love me again."

He sighs and without hesitation grabs her hand, squeezing it.

"I'll always love you, Ava, you were there for me when no one else was. And if I'm this child's father, I'll love you for that too. But I don't think we'll ever be able to go back and be what we were and I'm sorry for that."

She reaches out and cups his chin. She loves him still and she knows what she's saying is true. They could have a daughter come from the insanity and pain caused by their relationship.

"It's okay, I'm the one who wrecked us, but this little girl is still part of you even if she's not your daughter, she's still your sister, still your family. You're not wrong for loving her no matter what. I know this situation is awkward, but I hope you understand that much."

Morgan nods and hesitantly places his hand on her abdomen. For a few moments nothing happens, but then he feels Ava's daughter kick. When he looks up at her, amazement playing on his eyes, he's surprised to see that she's crying.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just that she hasn't kicked since we've been here and um it just is comforting when she moves around. I know it doesn't make sense."

"Yeah, I get it. When she moves you know she's okay."

Ava nods before letting go of a yawn she had been trying to hold back.

"I should let you sleep some. I'll be outside until you get to go home. Do you want Julian?"

She nods and watches as he stands, his hand still lingering on her stomach. He leans over and kisses her forehead, sending chills down her body. He stands there for second, not wanting to leave, but finally he makes his way out the door. Julian is back in the room as soon as he can be.

"No stress?"

"No stress, don't even think I've had any contractions."

"Wow, maybe the kid should live with us again."

Ava smiles sadly.

"It's not ever going to be like that again, Julian."

He sits down in the chair by her bed.

"I'm sorry, Ava, I know that kid meant a lot to you, it's going to be okay."

"You know what Julian? This baby really is bringing out the best in you, months ago you were trying to kill me and now you were the one I wanted when Jordan asked me who she should call."

"What can I say, sis? We're family and when the chips are down all we have is each other."


End file.
